


Something More

by CatrinaSL



Series: Boulder, Parchment, Shears [7]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Battle Scenes, Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Cupcakes, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Kissing, Plants, Rain, Redemption, Scars, Suggestive Themes, The Xhorhouse, Three Things, Welcome to the Mighty Nein, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatrinaSL/pseuds/CatrinaSL
Summary: After Astrid and Eadwulf join the Mighty Nein, Yasha and Astrid settle into a comfortable friendship... until they both start to wonder if there could be something more.
Relationships: Astrid/Yasha Nydoorin, The Mighty Nein Family
Series: Boulder, Parchment, Shears [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/971727
Kudos: 19





	Something More

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonlitWoodElf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitWoodElf/gifts).



> MoonlitWoodElf prompted Scars, Plants, Rain.
> 
> Thanks go to duo for the idea for Astrid's familiar! Many thanks to Khell, bean, & Kale for beta reading! ♥

"Welcome to the Mighty Nein!" Veth chirped—she seemed to be extending this greeting to anyone who wandered by lately, and as much as it confused Yasha, she couldn't fault the halfling. The Mighty Nein accepted everyone, it seemed.

They had accepted  _ her _ return, after all, and forgiven her much sooner than she had forgiven herself.

Essek had his own tower, but there was enough room in the Xhorhouse to accommodate both defected volstrucker—it just took some time for everyone to get used to having them around. To see Astrid baking in the kitchen with Caduceus and Jester, to watch Beau sparring with Eadwulf while Fjord looked on.

"You don't like that we're here."

It wasn't a question.

Yasha turned from her contemplation of the tree on the roof to find the Zemnian woman watching her, a plateful of newly-frosted cupcakes in her hands.

"That's not—no, I don't mind at all," Yasha replied. "I might not talk much, but you shouldn't take my silence for… for disapproval. The Mighty Nein isn't about holding someone's past against them. I'm not."  _ Not after what I've done, _ she thought, but didn't say out loud.

Astrid seemed to accept this, stepping forward to wordlessly offer a cupcake. "Jester showed me the mural on your wall, I hope you don't mind," she said quietly.

"I don't," Yasha replied, taking a cupcake with a nod of thanks. "It's amazing, what she painted. She can show it off whenever she wants."

Astrid nodded. "You like... plants, then?" She looked around at the little rooftop garden as though Yasha's presence there was proof of her assumption.

"Yes," Yasha told her, and set the cupcake on the cover of the book Molly had given her, its pages pressed with flowers. "Plants are amazing. They never stop...  _ growing _ . It's inspiring." She laughed softly and shook her head. "That probably doesn't make any sense."

"No, it does," Astrid assured her, a small smile on her face. "I agree with you. I have just never been much good with growing things."

"I suppose I've never tried, before now," Yasha said, looking up at the tree again. "It's enough just to be here, and watch them grow. At least, that's how I feel."

The woman nodded and took a step back toward the house. "I'll leave you to it, then."

"You don't have to," Yasha said quickly, maybe too quickly. Making friends was hard. "You can... stay with me. And watch over them."

Astrid relaxed a little and set the plate to the side on top of a planter Caduceus had yet to make use of. "All right," she said. "If you don't mind the intrusion."

"It's not an intrusion," Yasha murmured. She patted the bench next to her and lifted the cupcake, feeling a bit like Jester as she suggested, "Have a cupcake with me?"

The smile on Astrid's face was nice, and the knowledge that Yasha had been at least a little responsible for putting it there made her feel good.

Yasha couldn't help a small smile of her own when the woman sat down next to her with a cupcake, quiet and content to just watch the plants grow beside her.

* * *

While it was true that the darkness over Rosohna kept the light from bothering the inhabitants, it could not hold back the entirety of the sky. 

And so it was not long after their daily meetings on the roof began that Astrid woke to the sound of thunder in the night—thunder in the sleeping hours—and looked out onto the balcony to see Yasha standing in the middle of a riotous storm, her arms outstretched to accept the rain as it drenched down on her, a smile of fierce joy on her face as the water cascaded over her face as though it were her own tears.

She was... beautiful, and awe-inspiring.

Astrid retreated to her bed and wrapped a blanket around herself. She could not see Yasha from where she was, but she could see her shadow when lightning lit up the sky.

A few of those times, she could have sworn she saw wings flaring out from Yasha's back.

But shadows were tricky.

Especially in the rain.

* * *

Caleb fell, and Beau, and Jester's little unicorns protected Caduceus as he ran to their aid. The udaak slammed into Eadwulf and Astrid screamed, and that sound was what caused Yasha to run forward at the beast instead of to the side as she'd planned.

It lowered its huge head and charged directly at her, and she felt her blade cut through its skin.

And then pain.

But nothing more.

There were tears on Jester's face when Yasha knew again. She furrowed her brow and managed to ask, "Did we win?"

The little blue tiefling wiped her tears, shook her head, and pointed off to the side, where the huge hulking creature was shuffling in a circle.

"Astrid did a magic thing and activated the collar on its neck, Caleb says. It's not following her commands, but it's not attacking us, so...?" She shrugged.

"That is good," Yasha decided. "I will have to thank Astrid, then."

"And I will thank Jester that you do not have any new scars," came Astrid's voice from further off.

Yasha sat up a little, enough to prop herself up on her elbows. "I don't mind scars," she told Astrid. "I have many, and some I wear with pride."

"You did not need another because we stumbled onto this creature unprepared," Astrid said, her face full of concern even as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared across at the udaak.

"Is there... something going on here?" Jester asked, her voice a little higher pitched, the tone she often used to barely conceal giggles.

"No!" Astrid cried immediately.

"Something what?" Yasha said at the same time, entirely confused.

"Okay, keep tellin' yourselves that!" Jester sang, getting up to saunter away and apply more healing to Beau.

"What did she mean by that?" Yasha asked Astrid.

"I don't... I don't know!" Astrid replied, but by her body language and the flush on her neck, Yasha got the idea that she really did know.

"Welcome to the Mighty Nein!" Veth yelled, but her triumphant laughter was drowned in Fjord's shout:

"We are  _ not _ adopting a gargantuan fiend!"

* * *

Yasha joined Astrid on their bench and picked up the cupcake the woman had waiting for her. The others were downstairs in the hot tub relaxing, but up here where the plants were growing was relaxing to Yasha.

Astrid's company was.

They sat quietly together, enjoying the nature the Mighty Nein had brought to Xhorhas with them. Astrid smiled up at the boughs of the tree where a tiny house finch hopped, chirping happily.

And Yasha watched Astrid.

" _ Is _ there something going on here?" she asked, after turning the question over and over in her own head.

Astrid started, then blushed the same way she had after the battle on the edge of the Vermaloc. "Something... what?" she asked, repeating the words Yasha said that day.

"Well, usually when Jester asks that kind of question she means sex," Yasha replied matter-of-factly, causing Astrid to nearly topple off their bench. "But that's not what I'm asking."

She reached out as Astrid righted herself, and took the woman's hand. There was a small gasp from Astrid when Yasha carefully laced their fingers together.

"I'm asking," Yasha continued, "if there is... something  _ more _ . Than friendship."

The stunned silence and terrified look she received in reply only made her nervous, so she rushed to add: "There doesn't  _ have _ to be, I just, I wanted to be clear—"

Her words were stopped by Astrid's fingers on her lips, obviously meant to silence her, but quickly turned from a gesture of censure to a light caress.

And it became the answer.

After a long moment of tense anticipation, Astrid breathed, "I... there  _ is _ something more, Yasha. I like you. Very much."

Yasha smiled softly. "Good."

Then she leaned down to replace the touch of Astrid's fingers with Astrid's lips instead.

**Author's Note:**

> The udaak is a new creature in The Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount! Check it out, it’s really cool.
> 
> [Prompt a Three Things fic!](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7S2MbkK0CxVHMG3kF8CD6fYqD0zwY-J6MqLb21nmFyRpE4w/viewform)
> 
> Twitter: [@Catrina_SL](http://twitter.com/Catrina_SL)


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